New members welcomed into National Skills Academy

March 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Six new training providers have joined the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing.

Manchester Metropolitan University, London South Bank University, the Manufacturing Institute, Festo, Food Dialog and NSF CMi have been approved as National Skills Academy network members after submitting formal applications earlier this year.

Justine Fosh, executive director of the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, said: “The National Skills Academy consists of the very best organisations, bringing together leaders in their field. We rigorously assess every applicant to ensure the network comprises only the very best organisations that are acknowledged for delivering first-class training to food and drink companies.

"The National Skills Academy masque is therefore a guarantee to employers that all the new training providers carrying it will offer the very best service and training solutions that bring genuine benefits to their businesses.”

Each of the latest approved providers will focus on a particular specialism under the academy banner. The Manufacturing Institute joins the lean manufacturing network, while Northampton-based training provider Festo will spread its capabilities across two networks – robotics and automation and leadership and management.

Manchester Metropolitan University, London South Bank University, Suffolk-based Food Dialog and NSF CMi from Oxfordshire will join the general food and drink network.

The National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing was established in 2007 in order to raise standards in occupational training within the food and drink industry. It operates through a series of provider networks on a region-by-region and sector-by-sector basis, with separate networks already established for bakery, dairy and general food production, as well as for specialist operational disciplines such as lean manufacturing and robotics and automation.

A full list of all National Skills Academy centres can be found at http://www.foodanddrink.nsacademy.co.uk, along with further information about each centre and their individual areas of expertise. For the latest news on the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NSAFDM.

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About the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing: The National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing is an employer-led organisation, which was set up in 2007 and is being developed to provide the food and drink industry with the training it needs to drive up productivity and competitiveness within the sector. The NSA is part of Improve Limited, the Sector Skills Council for the UK food and drink sector. It has a growing network of approved training providers, which include both publicly and privately funded learning centres located around the country. Each member of the network delivers some aspect of skills for the food and drink manufacturing industry as whole, and/or specialist skills for one or more of its various sub-sectors. Members undergo rigorous quality checks and have to demonstrate a continuous commitment to offering the food and drink industry the expertise and specialist knowledge it needs.